Live Review: José González

I’ve been in Butterworth Hall three times. The first was when I attended the University’s welcome talk from the ever exciting Nigel Thrift. The second was when, as part of my job at the Arts Centre, I staffed a conference dinner in the hall. I would have never imagined that the third would be attending an intimate, riveting concert from one of my favourite musicians.

For those of you who haven’t heard of José González, he’s best known for his 2003 track, ‘Crosses’, his covers of The Knife’s ‘Heartbeats’ and Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ (which was featured in House), as well as his music for the 2013 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

My sister and I are keen fans, and as a result, arrived at the Arts Centre a good few hours early in order to get good positions – the entire concert was standing, after all. To be perfectly honest, we could have arrived a good two hours later and still secured our front row spots. However, we managed to secure the best positions in the hall, directly in front of José’s microphone. It was certainly worth the wait.

Icelandic singer-songwriter Ólöf Arnalds was the supporting act. I hadn’t heard her music before, and was struck by her beautiful and unusual voice, accompanied by striking classical music. She sang for about half an hour, before leaving an audience eagerly awaiting José González.

After what felt like centuries – in actual fact, it was about twenty-five minutes – José González walked on stage, accompanied by his band. It’s hard to describe how it felt to see a singer that I have been in awe of since I was a young teen stand only feet away from me.

Unlike many stars, José chooses to be defined by his talent, and his talent alone. The internet is void of any stories of his personal life, and he likes to keep out of the spotlight. Whilst on stage, José refrained from running about and screaming to the crowd. Rather, he stood on stage, guitar in hand, and let the music do the talking. Nevertheless, his stage presence was far stronger than most acts that I’ve seen before.

José started the concert by playing tracks from his new album, Vestiges and Claws. The album is simply beautiful: José González has managed to capture and recreate what made ‘Veneer’ (2003) and ‘In Our Nature’ (2007) such strong, unique and personal albums. However, while staying true to his trademark sound and soft vocals, he has also been successful in growing and expanding his style. In ‘The Forest’, José combines an acoustic sound with his love of Indian music, whilst in songs such as ‘Let It Carry You’, he experiments with a more fast-paced tone.

 José chooses to be defined by his talent, and his talent alone

The best way to describe the experience, as I told my sister on the night, was that it was akin to a religious experience. José González had the entire audience rapt on his every note. The lighting was key in creating this effect: bright oranges and deep greens came from nowhere, immersing the audience in radiant light. Furthermore, the fact that Butterworth Hall isn’t the size of your usual concert stadium kept the experience intimate and personal.

The moment that truly stole the show was when the band left the stage, leaving the audience alone with José and his guitar. He indulged us with some old favourites: the energy in the room when he began playing ‘Crosses’ was incredible. He followed this up with ‘Hints’ and ‘Heartbeats’, two of my favourite songs.

When the band came back on stage, he decided to play ‘Always’, a song from his side-band, Junip. The folk-rock band’s style differs from José’s in that they have a louder, more electric sound. It was certainly invigorating. Furthermore, José’s cover of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Hand On Your Heart’ was hauntingly beautiful, and marked yet another high point of the night.

After José had left the stage, been called back on, and once again left, the lights went back on, and we were reminded that we had, in fact, been in Warwick Arts Centre the whole time. It’s safe to say that I won’t be forgetting the evening anytime soon.